Anthony has secured his move to independent living. The formal agreement is signed and his transition plan is now in effect. We will remain observant to ensure these terms are upheld during his integration.
January 30, 2014
Final supporters
Anthony Kletzander remains incarcerated in Nua Health Care.
Anthony :
Communication denied.
Forced to take medication.
Denied Independent living.
Moved into further Isolation within Nua, without discussion, when parents protested.
Nua have "Autism Accreditation" from The National Autistic Society (UK). NAS have been invited to meet Anthony but so far present themselves as neutral, in this issue, despite dropping Nua from sponsoring their Autism Professional Awards.
Support Anthony to have his right to independent living.
Contact
Joe Whittaker
[email protected]
#whittakerjoe1"
Previous updates:
"Anthony is out of Redwood, in temporary accommodation. He sent a Christmas Day message saying he was delighted to be out. Joe was sent a message on Christmas Eve from HSE solicitor, saying he must not disclose any confidential information about Anthony's Case Conference. Joe will continue to speak out about abuse of Anthony."
THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT! Things are far from over but your signatures are making a huge difference, please keep them coming!
________________________________________
Anthony
is a young man of 25 and was living in his own rented apartment in
Dublin for almost three years after many years of struggle. Anthony was
enjoying the lifestyle he had chosen. This is the life of many young men
at 25. However, Anthony has been diagnosed with Autism; he does not use speech
but communicates very well by typing on his lightwriter. Anthony has
made many presentations to groups of disabled people in Ireland and the
UK describing his struggle to get his independent life style.
Anthony had his own 24/7 paid personal assistants, funded by HSE
(National Health Service of Ireland) Anthony was very active and very
healthy, his parents had supported him all his life, they worked
extremely hard with committed professionals from around the world to
ensure he had an appropriate, well balanced gluten and dairy free diet
with plenty of exercise, regular running along the beach near Dublin and
physical activity in the local Gym. In addition, for a number of
semesters, Anthony was attending classes at a University in Dublin; this
was the highlight of his week.
Anthony’s chosen life style was
brought to an end when Áiseanna Tacaíochta (AT Network) based in Dublin
took over responsibilities for Anthony's support package, without
Anthony's consent, within 8 months the support was so inappropriate for
Anthony that he was forced into Redwood Extended Care Facility,
Stamullen for a period of "assessment"
Anthony had already had 20
years of being assessed by professionals. But many people will know that
for disabled people ineffective professionals don't accept previous
assessments they set about insisting on more and more expensive and
intrusive assessments, often to underpin their initial prejudice. The
irony of this ridiculous situation is that had the Senior Management at
HSE had the wisdom to sit down with Anthony for a couple of hours and
listen to him, they would have all the information they required.
Within three days of being in Redwood for “Assessment” Anthony was given
Risperdral an antipsychotic medication and taken off his gluten and
dairy free diet. Anthony made it clear to his parents that the
“medication made him feel ill and very strange”. Anthony’s parents
immediately protested to Redwood. They even had written evidence from
Anthony's GP of 15 years that the Risperdral medication could cause
adverse reactions and his gluten and dairy free diet was essential to
maintain balance within his body metabolism. Redwood refused to accept
these representations, even when Anthony typed "make them stop giving me
this medication"
Anthony’s parents met with Clinician at Redwood
and again Redwood refused to accept their concern. Within three days of
this meeting Anthony was admitted as an emergency patient to Drogheda
Hospital, after having had several seizures. (Anthony had never
experienced seizures before entering Redwood. After his stay in hospital
Anthony was returned to Redwood where they continued with the same
antipsychotic medication and kept him off his special diet.
Anthony is denied his preferred communication at Redwood
Dr Corrine Pearson, clinical Director at Redwood stated:
“when Anthony is using the lightwriter that he is not always looking at
the keyboard whilst continuing to type a message. As a team this raises
concerns about the validity of Anthony using the lightwriter to
communicate”
This demonstrates a total lack of understanding of
Anthony's use of his peripheral vision when typing on his keyboard,
common with many people who experience autism, but more importantly a
blatant denial of Anthony's right to use his preferred and essential
means of communication, which he has used for over twelve years.
Updates
Reached 250 supporters
December 22, 2013
December 19, 2013
We are approaching the 250 signature threshold for our next formal briefing with legal counsel. Crossing this benchmark strengthens our position when presenting the current evidence of isolation to the National Autistic Society.
Reached 100 supporters
December 17, 2013
196 Comments
This is nothing less than barbaric. My son is 11 and doesn't communicate at all. What is his fate if this is the fate of Anthony? Give this young man his freedom and basic human rights back! Who are the authorities to treat people like this?
To prevent someone living where they want to is bad enough but to remove this young man's means of communication just because he didn't use it 'normally' is just unbelievably ignorant and cruel. Where is the expert on AAC in all of this? (amongst others)
Knowing someone with a daughter with non-verbal autism who just had a book published, give Anthony back his right to communicate. You are only causing regression in all the progress he has made during his life.
Isn't the Irish government in violation of human rights legislation. If he lived in the UK, he would mostly likely to be judged to be deprived of his liberty under the Mental Capacity Act. This case has similarities to Bournewood judgement in the Uk, which helped motivated the aforementioned legislation.
I'm appalled. Many of the people who were admitted to Winterbournew View and other A&TU's can tell similar stories. Understanding those who are a challenge to support requires skilled staff. Trying to reduce cost actually increases cost.
There are few people whp don't choose to live in the community. There would seem little excuse to keep Anthony apart in this way. Why wouldn't any good agency work to help a young man have more independent living? Give him his rights to controlo over as much of his life as possible.
There are few people whp don't choose to live in the community. There would seem little excuse to keep Anthony apart in this way. Why wouldn't any good agency work to help a young man have more independent living? Give him his rights to controlo over as much of his life as possible.
Share Petition
Don't stop at signing, share the petition link with friends to multiply our impact
Copy link or share directly
Anthony has secured his move to independent living. The formal agreement is signed and his transition plan is now in effect. We will remain observant to ensure these terms are upheld during his integration.
January 30, 2014
Final supporters
Anthony Kletzander remains incarcerated in Nua Health Care.
Anthony :
Communication denied.
Forced to take medication.
Denied Independent living.
Moved into further Isolation within Nua, without discussion, when parents protested.
Nua have "Autism Accreditation" from The National Autistic Society (UK). NAS have been invited to meet Anthony but so far present themselves as neutral, in this issue, despite dropping Nua from sponsoring their Autism Professional Awards.
Support Anthony to have his right to independent living.
Contact
Joe Whittaker
[email protected]
#whittakerjoe1"
Previous updates:
"Anthony is out of Redwood, in temporary accommodation. He sent a Christmas Day message saying he was delighted to be out. Joe was sent a message on Christmas Eve from HSE solicitor, saying he must not disclose any confidential information about Anthony's Case Conference. Joe will continue to speak out about abuse of Anthony."
THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT! Things are far from over but your signatures are making a huge difference, please keep them coming!
________________________________________
Anthony
is a young man of 25 and was living in his own rented apartment in
Dublin for almost three years after many years of struggle. Anthony was
enjoying the lifestyle he had chosen. This is the life of many young men
at 25. However, Anthony has been diagnosed with Autism; he does not use speech
but communicates very well by typing on his lightwriter. Anthony has
made many presentations to groups of disabled people in Ireland and the
UK describing his struggle to get his independent life style.
Anthony had his own 24/7 paid personal assistants, funded by HSE
(National Health Service of Ireland) Anthony was very active and very
healthy, his parents had supported him all his life, they worked
extremely hard with committed professionals from around the world to
ensure he had an appropriate, well balanced gluten and dairy free diet
with plenty of exercise, regular running along the beach near Dublin and
physical activity in the local Gym. In addition, for a number of
semesters, Anthony was attending classes at a University in Dublin; this
was the highlight of his week.
Anthony’s chosen life style was
brought to an end when Áiseanna Tacaíochta (AT Network) based in Dublin
took over responsibilities for Anthony's support package, without
Anthony's consent, within 8 months the support was so inappropriate for
Anthony that he was forced into Redwood Extended Care Facility,
Stamullen for a period of "assessment"
Anthony had already had 20
years of being assessed by professionals. But many people will know that
for disabled people ineffective professionals don't accept previous
assessments they set about insisting on more and more expensive and
intrusive assessments, often to underpin their initial prejudice. The
irony of this ridiculous situation is that had the Senior Management at
HSE had the wisdom to sit down with Anthony for a couple of hours and
listen to him, they would have all the information they required.
Within three days of being in Redwood for “Assessment” Anthony was given
Risperdral an antipsychotic medication and taken off his gluten and
dairy free diet. Anthony made it clear to his parents that the
“medication made him feel ill and very strange”. Anthony’s parents
immediately protested to Redwood. They even had written evidence from
Anthony's GP of 15 years that the Risperdral medication could cause
adverse reactions and his gluten and dairy free diet was essential to
maintain balance within his body metabolism. Redwood refused to accept
these representations, even when Anthony typed "make them stop giving me
this medication"
Anthony’s parents met with Clinician at Redwood
and again Redwood refused to accept their concern. Within three days of
this meeting Anthony was admitted as an emergency patient to Drogheda
Hospital, after having had several seizures. (Anthony had never
experienced seizures before entering Redwood. After his stay in hospital
Anthony was returned to Redwood where they continued with the same
antipsychotic medication and kept him off his special diet.
Anthony is denied his preferred communication at Redwood
Dr Corrine Pearson, clinical Director at Redwood stated:
“when Anthony is using the lightwriter that he is not always looking at
the keyboard whilst continuing to type a message. As a team this raises
concerns about the validity of Anthony using the lightwriter to
communicate”
This demonstrates a total lack of understanding of
Anthony's use of his peripheral vision when typing on his keyboard,
common with many people who experience autism, but more importantly a
blatant denial of Anthony's right to use his preferred and essential
means of communication, which he has used for over twelve years.
Updates
Reached 250 supporters
December 22, 2013
December 19, 2013
We are approaching the 250 signature threshold for our next formal briefing with legal counsel. Crossing this benchmark strengthens our position when presenting the current evidence of isolation to the National Autistic Society.
Reached 100 supporters
December 17, 2013
196 Comments
Very obviously competent to communicate given equipment - watch this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJWadCgdlng&sns=tw. Sepriving him of his communicator is to punish him for his condition. Doesn't come much more arbitrarily cruel than that. Shame on
This is nothing less than barbaric. My son is 11 and doesn't communicate at all. What is his fate if this is the fate of Anthony? Give this young man his freedom and basic human rights back! Who are the authorities to treat people like this?
To prevent someone living where they want to is bad enough but to remove this young man's means of communication just because he didn't use it 'normally' is just unbelievably ignorant and cruel. Where is the expert on AAC in all of this? (amongst others)
Knowing someone with a daughter with non-verbal autism who just had a book published, give Anthony back his right to communicate. You are only causing regression in all the progress he has made during his life.
Isn't the Irish government in violation of human rights legislation. If he lived in the UK, he would mostly likely to be judged to be deprived of his liberty under the Mental Capacity Act. This case has similarities to Bournewood judgement in the Uk, which helped motivated the aforementioned legislation.
I'm appalled. Many of the people who were admitted to Winterbournew View and other A&TU's can tell similar stories. Understanding those who are a challenge to support requires skilled staff. Trying to reduce cost actually increases cost.
There are few people whp don't choose to live in the community. There would seem little excuse to keep Anthony apart in this way. Why wouldn't any good agency work to help a young man have more independent living? Give him his rights to controlo over as much of his life as possible.
There are few people whp don't choose to live in the community. There would seem little excuse to keep Anthony apart in this way. Why wouldn't any good agency work to help a young man have more independent living? Give him his rights to controlo over as much of his life as possible.
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Very obviously competent to communicate given equipment - watch this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJWadCgdlng&sns=tw. Sepriving him of his communicator is to punish him for his condition. Doesn't come much more arbitrarily cruel than that. Shame on